Faithful Revolution: How Voice of the Faithful Is Changing the Church

On the weekend of July 8–10, 2005, three-and-a-half years after the
emergence of VOTF, approximately 560 people from thirty-three
states gathered at the convention center in downtown Indianapolis
for a VOTF-sponsored Convocation of Catholic Laity entitled “The
Laity Speak: Accountability Now.” Despite approximations that
thousands of lay Catholics from all over would attend, reminiscent
of the first convention in Boston at the peak of the abuse crisis,
organizers’ optimism for such a turnout waned in the months
following the initial announcement. Focus shifted instead to
gathering VOTF leaders, defined as all those who “made the
commitment to speak up for change in our church” or who “used
your voice, along with those of so many others.”

The gathering invited yet another test of VOTF’s acceptance
within the institution of the Catholic Church, revealed in the local
archdiocesan paper’s refusal to run an announcement of the
convocation. Indianapolis’ Archbishop Daniel Buechlein wrote a
letter to every pastor in the archdiocese, alerting area Catholics to
VOTF and its questionable stance on structural change. In it,
Buechlein wrote that VOTF leaders “have been unable to clearly
articulate its meaning or implications” and “seem not to be aware of
possible implications to changing the church’s structure.” The
archbishop instructed his pastors to read the letter to all parishioners
during Mass.

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